Chapter 147: with translation of chapter title

Based on the notion of not bullying children and not slaughtering newbie villages, Zhou Shuo entered meditation in the shuttle space, linked the window of the Yangshen world to the next world, and in that meditative state saw some deeply memorable scenes of that world.

In the Shu Mountain world, after Zhou Shuo sorted his memories, he discovered that when he opened the gate to the Shu Mountain world, the scenes he had seen in meditation were: first, Huangdi releasing the Wu Hua clan; second, Changmei Zhenren sealing the Blood God Son Deng Yin; both scenes are major signature events in the Shu Mountain world.

Having had the previous experience, Zhou Shuo, while in meditation, saw the scenes of the fifth world: the first picture showed a dilapidated ancient temple where a scholar was reading at night indoors, while outside the window a handsome and charming woman flashed by, with no interaction between them; the second scene was a wandering spirit drifting in the wind, while a maiden hurriedly chased after it in the wind.

"Zhi Qiu, Zhi Qiu." The fair-skinned, beautiful girl reached out to embrace the semi-transparent spirit; the spirit was a man who also wanted to grab her, but because yin and yang were separated, they could only clutch each other's transparent bodies; then a yin wind blew, the male spirit drifted away with the wind and vanished, leaving only the girl standing where she was, sobbing.

"A Ghost Story!" Zhou Shuo opened his eyes from meditation, his heart slightly startled; although these two scenes were utterly unfamiliar, with no obvious features to verify, he nevertheless could recognize them from his deep memory as scenes from A Ghost Story, and moreover the film version.

In the first picture, the scholar reading at night in the ancient temple's chamber looked exactly like Zhang Guorong; the handsome, charming woman who drifted past the window was unmistakably Wang Zuoxian; in the second picture, the drifting spirit Zhi Qiu was Zhang Xueyou, and the maiden chasing him was Li Jiaxin.

The displayed scenes were all signature images; Zhou Shuo pushed open the newly opened black-gray gate, and then his Nascent Soul turned into a stream of immortal energy that flew in, whereupon a desolate grassy wilderness instantly appeared before him, the air reeking of blood.

"I don't know if this is near Beigu Town; the plot should have passed by now, this world has monsters that are thousands of years old, so it shouldn't be a newbie village, huh, first I need a body." Zhou Shuo thought to himself, following the bloody smell to search; he first needed a body, and as for bullying or not bullying kids, he could just later say something like "It feels great to bully them" and be done with it.

Zhou Shuo followed the bloody smell and found a pool of blood in the wilderness, left from a weapon fight; many corpses remained at the scene, and judging by their clothing, this was still ancient times, not a few thousand years later.

"MMP." After examining the corpses left at the weapon-fight scene to determine the era, Zhou Shuo couldn't help cursing; although the corpses were all freshly dead, the fight had been so fierce that even the most intact corpses were missing a finger, their surfaces looked fine but their inner organs had been shattered by yin force, and their features were also terribly ugly.

Zhou Shuo did not want his new body to be a nine-fingered ugly beggar, so he could only abandon the corpses left at the scene, seize the fleeing killer's aura, and found a ruined village town; on the road outside the town he saw a stone tablet inscribed with the two characters "Beigu".

"Sure enough, I've reached Beigu Town." Zhou Shuo looked at the stone tablet on the road, sneaked into Beigu Town, then began searching everywhere inside; if he still couldn't find anything, he decided to leave this world, terminate the Nascent Soul's outing plan, and honestly return to the Demon Palace to await summoning by that demonic master.

With the idea of giving up if it didn't work, Zhou Shuo sneaked into Beigu Town; the streets inside Beigu Town were indeed bustling, but filled with a strange aura, and over half the passersby carried weapons, moving about with a vigilant air.

"What a world, demons and monsters!" Zhou Shuo frowned at the aura on the street, then furtively hid himself in a place seldom frequented by people.

Zhou Shuo clung to his last hope, having searched Beigu Town once, when passing a few houses he suddenly caught a shadow at the street corner: it was a soul, wearing tattered robes, emaciated like firewood, dazedly drifting out from the wall.

"Just died." Zhou Shuo looked at the dazed youth's soul, his eyes twitched slightly; behind the wall from which the soul floated, he saw a beggar lying in the corner, hair messy, a ring of stubble on his chin, though actually not old, his frame thin, appearing to have starved to death, and only then did the soul drift out.

Zhou Shuo examined the starved beggar's body; no organs were missing, and there was even a faint trace of warmth inside, but the soul had already been driven out by starvation, vitality gone, though his appearance was not handsome.

"Should I possess it? Forget it, it's just a stinking sack of skin, why be picky?" Zhou Shuo looked at the corpse losing vitality, pondered for a moment, then transformed his form into a stream of immortal energy that entered the corpse through its seven apertures, thereafter circulating qi and blood to loosen the gradually stiffening body, restoring function to the five viscera and six bowels.

"Huh, damn, so dirty and smelly, and yet... hungry!" Zhou Shuo suddenly opened his eyes, sat up straight in his new body, exhaled a long breath, then lowered his head to sniff the sour stench on himself; before he could even complain, he suddenly felt his newly beating five viscera and six bowels give a wave of emptiness—he was hungry, terribly hungry.

Gurgle, Zhou Shuo felt his belly rumble, involuntarily twitching the corner of his mouth; he stood up, moved his limbs a bit, then summoned his divine ability whip, stepped out of the alley where his former body had collapsed, and came onto the bustling main street of the town.

"Waiter..." Zhou Shuo casually picked a noisy inn, didn't bother with anything else, just found a seat and sat down; then he drove away the neighboring guests, his greeting unfinished when a bang sounded and a bowl of noodles was set before him by the attendant.

"Beef brisket noodles."

"Um, older brother waiter..." Zhou Shuo looked at the bowl of noodles flung before him, his eyebrows beneath his hair twitched slightly.

"What do you want, you stinking beggar? If you don't eat, you'll have to pay double." The attendant, in response to Zhou Shuo's words, instantly spat out a hostile reply.

"That's not it; I just don't want to eat beef brisket noodles—bring me a roasted chicken and a pot of heated liquor, I'll pay triple." Zhou Shuo looked at the attendant who didn't mind him, and felt a surge of goodwill; he had originally not thought of any good excuse to run up a tab, and he had no money on him anyway, but since the attendant's attitude was like this, his free meal was guaranteed.

"Hmph, remember: one roasted chicken, one pot of heated liquor." The attendant glanced at Zhou Shuo's hand, where the divine ability whip resembled jade bamboo, gave a light snort, then sent out a call.

"Oh, also prepare a large basin of bath water and a set of change of clothes, front the money for me, I'll pay five times." Zhou Shuo looked at the attendant shouting loudly, and added, "Anyway, I'm not juggling two tasks."

"A large basin of bath water, one set of change of clothes." The attendant had no hesitation, called out, then walked away; in less than a moment, a steaming hot roasted chicken and a pot of hot liquor were brought up.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, thanks for the hospitality, thanks for the hospitality." Zhou Shuo looked at the steaming hot roasted chicken, laughed and clasped his fists, not minding his dirty hands, grabbed the chicken and liquor pot, and ate and drank heartily.

"Older brother waiter, give me four plates of side dishes, a big bowl of rice, five times the price—are the bath water and clothes ready?" Zhou Shuo had gnawed half the roasted chicken, felt the space in his stomach, called for food again, and also summoned the bath water.

"Four plates of side dishes, a big bowl of rice, the bath water is heating, the clothes have been bought." A shout came.

After a bout of gluttonous eating and drinking, Zhou Shuo supported his belly into the guest room, stripped off his clothes, tossed his divine ability whip aside, leapt straight into a tub full of boiling water, then used the hot water to wash away the grime on his body, scrubbing his skin until it turned red, only then feeling refreshed enough to rise and dress.

"Hmm, I feel a bit dizzy, tired, I'll sleep first." Zhou Shuo put on his blue cloth shirt, shook his head slightly, stumbled to the bed and fell asleep face-first.

Just after Zhou Shuo fell asleep, the previously closed doors burst open with several figures sneaking in from outside the windows and doors; upon hearing his snoring, they couldn't help but utter low curses.

"You two bastards, did you actually prepare anything? Clearly there were two big packs of medicine, yet that guy only just fell asleep now."

"It's not our fault! Maybe that guy's martial arts are too strong."

"Strong martial arts? Pah, I've never seen a martial arts master who can withstand the soporific drug."

"Exactly, regardless of whether he's a master or not, we'll call in the guys, go in and chop that kid up."

"Exactly, one roasted chicken, a pot of heated liquor, four plates of side dishes, a big bowl of rice, plus a set of new clothes—we must chop him up and make him into buns to recoup some loss."

"That guy looks skinny, how much meat could he have? Don't forget the most important thing—that jade staff looks valuable."

Amidst their low curses, six figures wielding cleavers and boning knives slipped in from outside the door, then, while shouting fiercely, they raised their knives and launched a frenzied hack and chop at the bed, simultaneously uttering wild "wu-a" shouts.

"Ah, stop chopping, stop chopping, you damn bastards stop chopping, how come there's only a quilt, where's that jade staff?" Amidst their wild "wu-a" shouts, the six figures revealed their full identities—they were the innkeeper and attendants; after venting their violence, the keeper noticed something off: the feel of the blades as they chopped was wrong, they had struck only the bed frame and mattress.

"A jade staff?" Several attendants came to their senses, gazing at the shattered bedding, their eyes widened in shock—Zhou Shuo, who should have been lying there, was gone; they searched the room, but the object resembling jade bamboo was also missing; had they really run into a master?

Just as the attendants and innkeeper were unable to find anyone or anything, feeling furious and worried, outside under the dark sky Zhou Shuo was holding his divine ability whip, one hand rubbing his belly lamenting how many good people there are in the world, while he searched everywhere for people—more precisely, he was seeking souls, seeking the soul of his original body's owner.